Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. It's been really crazy and I haven't had too much time to sit down and work on the report/editing pictures. I am also having some trouble with my Photobucket at the moment, so not all of the pictures are posted yet...but this is a start anyway.
Day 2: Friday August 19, 2011
We got up at about 4am to get ready for the expo. But we had to check out of this room and switch to our new room first. So once we got ourselves ready and I went downstairs to make the switch…besides an unrelated issue the front desk was having, I had no problems whatsoever! The crew was impressed that the gal had everything set up. So we moved down the hall to our suite and what a view! Practically the whole wall was windows!!! We had a corner room…one side was facing the Convention Center, and the rest was facing another hotel, but had a view of the backside of Cars Land’s Cadillac Range. (pretty awesome by this Disney freak’s standards anyway) I had already been reading on twitter that there were several hundred people in line, but didn’t think too much of it. We’re all going to get in…plus we had our tickets already. No biggie. So we headed out about 6:30am (2+ hours before the doors opened for members) and walked the 5 minute (or less) walk down to the convention center. Holy crap on a stick!!!!! We could not believe the line!!! All we could do was wait…so as we were standing there, the line continued to snake around and a CM (or D23 staffer) would keep moving the line. By the time they started letting people in, the line wrapped halfway around the building (and that’s no easy feat)! We did happen to see a few great costumes though! What was funny to us was the line to get in on the General Admission side. There were but a handful of people there (when first arrived that is…).
Mater and Lightning parked out front
Banner over the entrance
What a line!
Another view of the line...this is only a portion of the line...it snaked all the way around the building!
Saw lots of costumes..."it worked in Blazing Saddles"
So we finally made it inside and happily we found out that most folks were headed over to the Dream Store to get whatever overpriced piece of plastic or metal that was the limited release. We headed straight to the line for the arena for the Legends ceremony. While in the lobby, being herded through a door, there was a lady who was trying to help the “clueless shepherd” herd the group…until she stopped and mumbled to herself “nope, I’m not at work”. This statement struck a chord with us, but we didn’t say anything. (I know it seems random, but it’s an important piece later) So we finally got to the queue area for the arena events…and guess who was right behind us in line??? That same lady we saw in the lobby! We started talking to her and decided that since we had at least an hour and a half, we could take turns walking around and hold each other’s spot in line. So, she kept checking back in with us, but we were ok since Chernabog40 was sitting on the floor. When she came back, we ended up just spending the rest of the waiting time in conversation. They started letting us in about 10:30 or so and we ended up all sitting together. At some point during the wait, the subject of work came up. Chernabog40 asked her if she was a CM. She said “why? Because I’m so outgoing?” we said no and continued to explain the whole comment thing. We then explained about how we worked at a theme park that was very Disney-like and completely understood how she felt.
The show was about to begin, and we were shivering with antici……pation since we missed out on the 2009 Legends ceremony and this would be a first for us! First up were the princesses. Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Linda Larkin (speaking voice of Jasmine), Lea Salonga (singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan), Paige O’Hara (Belle) and Jodi Benson (Ariel) were all being inducted. Each woman was escorted by their “prince” (Naveen, Aladdin (for both Linda and Lea), Beast and Eric) as they crossed the stage to accept their award and then were escorted to the side where an official photo was taken. Jodi proudly showed off her Cast Member ID and was truly humbled by the experience. Lea quipped a “thank you” to Linda Larkin for not being able to sing…so she could have the opportunity to voice the “singing” Jasmine. Anika was honored to be the youngest inductee, ever. I will have to go on YouTube to find video of the ceremony since I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t take it all in. Once all of the ladies had their awards, Anika, Lea, Paige and Jodi all came out and performed a piece of their princesses’ music, with Linda Larkin introducing them. Anika rocked “Almost There”, Lea sounded heavenly singing “Reflection” (I heard lots of complaints that she did not sing “A Whole New World”…but I didn’t care personally), Paige belted out a medley of songs (“Belle”, “Something There”,“Beauty and the Beast” and “Be Our Guest”) and of course Jodi sung the h-e-double-hockey-sticks out of “Part of Your World”. I had goosebumps (and I’m sure Chernabog40 did too) all throughout the performances and then it got worse (the “good” kind of worse that is)…all 4 ladies returned to the stage and sang the most beautiful version of “A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes” I have ever heard!!! Wow! Could this show get any better?!?!?!? Of course it can!!! Next up were Ray Watson, a former Disney Board Member; Barton “Bo” Boyd, the man behind Disney Consumer Products; Guy Williams, best known as Zorro; Jack and Bonita Wrather, financial support behind the Disneyland Hotel; Regis Philbin, a TV personality who has done just about everything under the sun; and last but not least Jim Henson, founder of the Muppets. First, Lisa Henson took the stage and spoke about what it was like growing up with Jim Henson as her dad. After a montage of Jim Henson’s work, Brian Henson and another puppeteer came out and performed a skit that was originated in 1956. It is to the song “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face” and is composed of a Female puppet singing to a “face” that is covered with a cloth. Throughout the course of the song, the cloth comes off to reveal a rather scary/mean looking face who then attempts to “eat” the other puppet while she is still singing. It was hilarious, albeit a bit unorthodox for Disney, but it was one of the first performances that Jim did (and classic Henson for that matter), and so it was fitting to see it here. Then Brian spoke about his dad and then both of them accepted the award in honor of their dad. Next up, Rowlf and a piano (with Kermit sitting on top of it with his banjo) appeared on stage to sing a very emotional version of “Rainbow Connection”…even though Rowlf flubbed a line (then laughed it off saying he should know the words). For the last verse they invited everyone to sing along (though I had all along) and even had the words up on the screen (complete with a follow the bouncing Bunsen Honeydew) for anyone who did not know those wonderful lyrics. I’m not sure how many dry eyes there were, but it was a great way to end a fabulous ceremony!!!!
We wandered the show floor for a while to take in the sights. Among the sights we saw were: Jake, Captain Hook, and Smee (even David Arquette on the red carpet) from the Disney Junior show “Jake and the Neverland Pirates”, the cast from “Good Luck Charlie” (even Charlie made an appearance…she is so gosh-darn cute!), Constantine Maroulis from American Idol, Walt Disney’s limousine and a model of the Black Pearl from the POTC movies.
The cast of Good Luck Charlie (Bradley Steven Perry (Gabe); Jason Dolley (PJ); Leigh Allyn Baker (Amy))
Even Mia Talerico (Charlie) made an appearance...
Ridley Pearson, Dave Barry and some friends...
David Arquette
Garner Holt animatronics...they are behind some of Disney Parks' biggest animatronics. They had a small display of several characters...
This guy was so incredibly real...
This is from a company that puts together parties...this was the Princess Party decorations.
Disney Healthy Living
James Silvani (artist of Darkwing Duck comic books) drew this commission for us
The Black Pearl
Walt Disney's Limo that he arrived in at the premiere of Mary Poppins
Saw this at one of the booths and I couldn't help but think about our fellow Subber...(Mousekedude, yours looks better IMHO)...
NaCler, this one's for you
...I think we all know who this is...
This one's for all the Figment fans out there!
Constantine Maroulis from American Idol
We knew there were 2 panels late in the day that we wanted to see (Voices of the Park and Dick Van Dyke), but we decided to get in line for the “Voices of the Park” panel. This was probably our favorite panel of the whole weekend!
Hosted by Brian Nefsky (Senior Casting Administrator for Walt Disney Imagineering), 11 incredibly talented voice actors came together to put faces and names with some voices we are all familiar with around the parks. Joining Mr. Nefsky on the stage were Corey Burton, Dee Bradley Baker, BJ Ward, Audrey Wasilewski, Chris Edgerly, Stephen Stanton, Bill Rogers, Jeff Fischer, Mark Silverman, Bob Joles and Fred Tatasciore.
The panel ran long since no one wanted it to end…actors included. There were so many stories, laughs, crazy voices…it was fabulous!!!! Afterward, most of the actors hung around to meet and greet the fans (those of us who gave up on trying to go to the Dick Van Dyke concert, anyway). We both wanted to talk with Corey Burton in the worst way, so we made our way up to the front of the room. I was shaking so badly since we were about to talk to one of my favorite voice actors…but he was so incredibly friendly, and also equally humble. You see, (speaking for myself) I am a fan of the late Paul Frees’ work (for those who don’t know, he is otherwise known as the Ghost Host from the HM…among many other projects). Corey Burton has pretty much absorbed all of those roles and more…
The other actor I was so nervous to meet was Dee Bradley Baker…what an amazing talent this man has! But it’s one of his most current projects that truly captures my attention. Mr. Baker is also known as the voice of Perry the Platypus in “Phineas and Ferb”. Since this panel was related to the parks, and he did not really talk about it, I had to ask afterward…”how do you do the voice of Perry?!?!”…and he did the voice for me right there! It was surprisingly quiet, but I heard it!
We talked to BJ, Fred, Mark, Stephen and Bob as well…all of these guys were just amazing! We didn’t get to talk to Bill, but as it turned out, it wouldn’t be the last time we’d see him.
By the time we got out of the panel, the line for Dick Van Dyke was closed off. We were disappointed, but were on a high from the last panel, so we called it a night.
) and walking along Balboa Pier. 
Bwahahahaha!!!!
